ROB DELANEY, STAR OF HIT SHOW ‘CATASTROPHE’ ANNOUNCES HIGHLY ANTICIPATED NEW LIVE DATES

It was announced today (Thursday 12^th November) that ROB DELANEY – the US comic best known in the UK as co-star and co-writer of Channel 4’s hit comedy Catastrophe, will perform extra dates of his critically acclaimed, previously sold out live stand-up tour Meat, including two shows at London’s Royal Festival Hall.

After series one broadcast in the UK, USA and multiple territories around the world to universal plaudits, the highly anticipated second series of Catastrophe, co-starring and co-written by ROB DELANEY and SHARON HORGAN, returned to its home on Channel 4 this October (the fastest return of a sitcom on Channel 4 since Father Ted).

Famously on his UK stand-up debut in London ROB sold out an entire Soho Theatre run in seven minutes via a single Tweet, making him the fastest selling US performer in the venue’s history.

ROB’s recent TV appearances include, Have I Got News For You, 8 out of 10 Cats, The Graham Norton Show, Alan Carr: Chatty Man and Would I Lie to You?  His best-selling book, Rob Delaney: Mother. Wife. Sister. Human. Warrior.Falcon. Yardstick. Turban. Cabbage was released here and in the US in 2013.

A full list of dates is on the following page.

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What the press has said recently about Rob Delaney and Meat:

“this is a show that strips the language of comedy right back to its raw, visceral basics. Yet at the same time it is one of the funniest, most sophisticated, jaw-snapping funny hours of humour you will see this year”

Bruce Dessau, The Evening Standard/Beyond The Joke

“ … Delaney’s delivery is fast but brilliantly structured”

The Guardian

“sharp and bitingly funny”

Time Out

“Rob Delaney is a brilliant say-the-unsayable comedian…Delaney is a new male icon. Worship his frame. “

Martin Robinson, Shortlist

“That he doesn’t do niceties certainly makes it grossly funny, not to mention his comically brutal descriptions. Even the most mundane sentence is given a little twist…long may the chaos, mess and filth of his life continue.  Focussed through his candour and his flippancy, it makes for brutally funny stand-up” Steve Bennett, Chortle

“substantial, hearty and maybe even tender”

Stephen Armstrong, The Sunday Times

For more information, please contact: Lucy Plosker or Dan Lloyd on 020 7598 7222 or lucyp@avalonuk.com / danl@avalonuk.com

What the press has said about Catastrophe Series 2

“on dazzling form once again…the jokes are as snappy and scabrous as ever but the key to the series is its warmth as much as its wit, the soppiness balancing the abrasive badinage…you believe in their arguments as much as you are convinced of their love for each other…A joy. From beginning to end.”

Ben Dowell, Radio Times

“one of the best sitcoms in ages is back…we won’t reveal too much because it would spoil the excellent surprise, but the fact we want to watch is testament to every superbly observed scene” ★★★★★

Boyd Hilton, Heat

“sharply written, gloriously foul-mouthed, and assembled with exquisite timing. It was also surprisingly moving…” Tim Dowling, Radio Times

“a most welcome return for Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney’s refreshing comedy…the joy of watching this funny, likeable duo is all the rumples in their road (from the trials of parenthood to work stresses) that are hilariously depicted on the right – realistic – side of farce. Watch for a brilliant supporting cast, especially Carrie Fisher as Mia, the foul-mouthed mother-in-law from hell”

Graham Kibble-White, Total TV Guide

“Their bedfellows are shows such as Lena Dunham’s Girls, Transparent, a shocking and amazing series about a sad old dad coming out as transgender, and Togetherness, a sad, dysfunctional sitcom about infidelity. Delaney and Horgan are scholars and exponents of this new misery mirth…It is honest and original; how Richard Linklater’s Before trilogy would have turned out had Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy been less careful back in 1995. ”

Jonathan Dean, Sunday Times Culture

“This brutally honest, hilarious comedy about relationships, pregnancy and parenthood is back and we’re delighted to report it’s as brilliant as we hoped…True to life and schmaltz-free it’s still one of the most absorbing sitcoms in recent years. Don’t miss it.” ★★★★★

Emma Bullimore, TV Times

“Brilliant, filthy and very, very funny sitcom”

Steve Perkins, Inside Soap

“Must see comedy”

Soaplife

“hilarious takes on making parenthood work”

Look

“I am very much looking forward to the second series of Catastrophe (Channel 4), as are, I’m sure, bad parents everywhere”

Tim Dowling, The Guardian

“Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney’s stonkingly funny modern sitcom, returns to Channel 4 on Tuesday, and – having watched the first two episodes – I can attest that the second series is even funnier than the first…Apart from the joyously filthy bits, what marks Catastrophe as special is its brutal honesty – about sex, friendship, parenthood and families…Catastrophe proves that authenticity is a prime element of good comedy…an odd couple whose situation causes howls of laughter of recognition all the way”

Veronica Lee, The Independent/The i

“Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney make a welcome return…It’s obvious that, as writers and performers, Horgan and Delaney spark off each other…but the best thing? You really believe in the central relationship”

Gerard Gilbert, The Independent/The i

“Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney convert their fearless comedy from salty romp to black farce…Catastrophe can look serious adult frustrations in the eye and cackle, because it’s underpinned by the snappy couple’s gorgeous “us v world” chemistry. Miraculous”

The Guardian, The Guide

“A swift second run for Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney’s superb comedy”

Sarah Carson, The Daily Telegraph

“Catastrophe is back for a second series, which – as far as television is concerned – is the best news of the week. If you had the misfortune to miss the first series, it’s an unusual rom-com, written by and starring two supremely gifted comedians (Rob Delaney and Sharon Horgan) that succeeds in combining charm and laughter with all the vicissitudes, confusion and angst of everyday life…Now this second series builds on all the qualities of the first, with the same funny, good-looking, intelligent and warm-hearted couple trying to hold down a job, keep babies and dogs alive and much else besides””

David Chater, The Times

“Going up Catastrophe. Downton?  Pft.  Autumn TV is all about this, the best British romcom for ages, which returns to C4 for a second series this month”

The Guardian, Weekend (The Measure)

“A TV comedy that manages to be both razor-sharp and loaded with belly laughs by the minute is a rare breed indeed. A warm welcome back, then, to Catastrophe – Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney’s brisk, bracingly filthy rom-com, and one of 2015’s most lauded new shows…Underneath this likeable couple’s squabbles, though, is a real sense of rapport – the pair’s comic timing is exquisite, the dialogue as rude as it is witty and warm-hearted”

James Jackson, The Times

“The marvellous pairing of Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney (above) are back for another round of their sharp sitcom, which they also write (see feature p7). Despite turning around a second series in record time (they’ve made two in a year), the show has lost none of its magic – if anything, it’s funnier, franker and more fearless than before…this series navigates parenthood with a candour rarely seen on television, managing to tickle our funny bone and tug on the heartstrings, often at the same time”

The Sun

“One of the funniest sitcoms of recent times returns for a second series…and we’ll be watching every second”

The Daily Star

“The hands-down funniest comedy of the year makes a swift and hugely welcome return…Scabrous, sharp and liable to leave you whimpering on the floor with laughter, it’s helped by a great supporting cast (I’m particularly fond of Mark Bonnar as the dour Chris and Carrie Fisher as Rob’s abrasive mum) and the genuine warmth and chemistry between the two leads, which makes lines such as “Well we’ll always be able to make each other laugh and just have great sex” feel believable and true”

Sarah Hughes, The Observer

“A swift second run for Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney’s superb comedy about a mismatched couple”

Sarah Carson, The Sunday Telegraph

“another Channel 4 classic. Expect razor-sharp one-liners and pregnancy jokes aplenty”

Simon Gage, Sunday Express

“Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney’s superb comedy about a mismatched couple”

Sarah Carson, The Daily Telegraph

“Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney’s glorious comedy returns”

The Sunday Times

“The brilliant Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney return in this mortifyingly realistic C4 comedy”

Jocasta Jones, The Independent

“a welcome return…It’s obvious that, as both writers and performs, Horgan and Delaney genuinely spark off each other, and Sharon’s second bout of childbirth provides for some blistering repartee…but the best thing about Catastrophe? You really believe in the central relationship”

Gerard Gilbert, The Independent

“wonderfully neurotic couple…in keeping with the mayhem of the first series…as in the first series the mixture of gentle romantic comedy and laugh-out-loud moment s doesn’t stop the writers broaching awkward and sometimes rather unpleasant subjects”

The Scotland on Sunday

“You get a lot of sitcoms on telly, so we weren’t really expecting an awful lot from Catastrophe when it arrived on our screens back in January. What we ended up with was one of the funniest shows of recent times.  It got everyone talking and made swearing like a trooper funny again.  So we’re rather excited to see the second series arrive”

Tom Atkinson, The Daily Star Sunday

“the hardboiled humour is just as caustic as in series one…more than offset by the laughs of the brilliant crackling dialogue” ★★★★

The Mail on Sunday

“Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney’s charming and well received romcom…The strength of the first series, which ended in February, was its intention not to shy away from the messy and awkward complications that naturally occur during a fledgling romance. And this new run begins in the same vein as the mismatched couple welcome their newborn into the world”

The Scotsman

“Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney star in this refreshingly spiky sitcom about unhappy families”

Carol Carter/Keith Watson, The Metro

“the couple still fling childish insults at each other in some brilliantly funny arguments”

Sara Wallis, The Mirror

“Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney are back for a second series of their brilliant self-penned comedy-drama”

The Sun

“The second series of this scabrously funny rom-com…There are so many good lines here, and so few that are quotable in a family newspaper”

Gerard Gilbert, The Independent

“Channel 4’s peerlessly savage comedy”

Nick Curtis, The Evening Standard

“Comedy of the week. One of the many joys of Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney’s brilliantly funny and warm-hearted comedy is its fearless embrace of authentic and thorny issues…their consistently excellent performances and ladlings of keen, spoky and cliché-free writing alchemise everything they touch into comedy gold”

Ben Dowell, The Radio Times

“Rejoice! Catastrophe is back with a second helping of crass jokes about sharing one’s housemate’s dildo to help us through the dark autumnal nights…Catastrophe has won a following for its rude take on the romcom. It celebrates the small, warm moments of a relationship, but truly rejoices in the fingernail-digging anger that surges when your other half takes too long to reach for the door key.  Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney’s much lauded script is still crammed with corking lines”

Daisy Wyatt, The Independent

“somehow render this journey from opening misdirection to bathetic conclusion irredeemably farcical and deeply grounded in truth. Their chemistry as “Sharon” and “Rob” translated from page to performance with a naturalism and confidence that must leave many of their peers gnashing their teeth in envy…The writing was on the nose throughout, juggling romance and rows with rare skill.  Everyone has had these conversations, or ones very similar to them, whether parent, partner or just person…I was in tears – of laughter, recognition, or maybe just tears…” ★★★★★

Gabriel Tate, The Times

“a scabrous sitcom that has a rich seam of observation beneath its quickfire, foul-mouthed one-liners. A word of warning: this marital comedy is not Terry And June.  It is quite possibly the rudest, most sexually explicit sitcom ever shown on television.  But it is also touchingly truthful about married life for new parents…This is comedy for anyone whose life has been turned inside out by a demanding, bawling, selfish infant.  I mean a baby, of course…” Christopher Stevens, The Daily Mail

“Rejoice! Catastrophe is back! Channel 4’s deliciously tart romcom of sorts burst on to screens in January, a riotous romp through the relationship…This was a romantic comedy for those who start itching at the term, honest, authentic and warm-hearted, but at the same time truly, filthily funny.  It takes some serious writing chops to pack that galloping plot into six episodes of just 24 minutes apiece, finding time along the way for storylines about cervical dysplasia and Down’s syndrome, and all the while making your central couple and their fast –forward romance believable and likable.  And, crucially, leaving enough room for the jokes…It’s as truthful, caustic and tender as any comedy you are likely to see about postnatal depression, dementia and old-lady-bras – and certainly the funniest” Esther Addley, The Guardian

“It’s not often a TV programme gets two series within the same calendar year. Such was the richly deserved acclaim for the debut run of the ribald romcom Catastrophe, however, that it has made a remarkably swift return.  And a welcome one at that…The snappy script still found time to introduce affecting sub-plots about senile dementia and postpartum depression…The two leads had crackling chemistry with a warm sense of “us against the world”.  Romantic yet realistic, they flipped from sex to nappy-changing to shouting match in a way that will resonate with frazzled parents.  “Bittersweet” is an overused adjective by reviewers but that’s exactly what this confident series opener was.  Fearless comedy, full of black farce and unflinching observation, yet never ashamed to be downright silly, too” ★★★★★

Michael Hogan, The Daily Telegraph

“well written, well acted and authentic”

Matt Baylis, The Express

“Commissioned in double-quick time, the second series of Catastrophe shows no signs of letting up: not on the brutal true-to-life comedy, nor on the agony Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney heap on their poor characters…Their rows are bitter and vicious, but quickly resolved, as there’s genuine affection too. Such are the complexities of real marriages – an authenticity which makes Catastrophe stand head-and-shoulders over most sitcoms.  Meanwhile the skilled writing brings out delicious one-liners from the emotional extremes, with more warmly amusing character-based scenes providing contrast and texture…The unfolding drama and the relatability of the characters also gives Catastrophe that all-important box set feel…All in all, it makes for a complex, deliciously sweet-and-sour taste that will keep the critical garlands flooding in.  And deservedly so, for this is proper grown-up comedy in which the consequences are not only hilarious – but credible, too”

Steve Bennett, Chortle